Thirty-one patients with aortic regurgitation (AR) were evaluated pre- and postoperatively by electrocardiography, echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, and graded treadmill exercise testing. Exercise testing was found to be an inaccurate method for identifying left ventricular dysfunction in patients with AR and was not predictive of early or late postoperative mortality. Preliminary echo data suggest that patients with preop ejection fractions less than or equal to 64% have a high incidence of early and late postop mortality.